In recent years the safety of infant cribs has come into question. A variety of additional safety concerns have been identified and a new set of safety standards have been implemented. To this end, the previously, long known and used, drop-down sidewall has been disallowed for continued sale and use. Infant cribs now are required to have either fixed height side walls or sides that can be lowered but retain a minimum height above the mattress or mattress support deck. This has resulted in the redesign of infant cribs without a drop-down side for ease of access into the crib for the parent or caretaker.
The infant crib has been designed to allow for the vertical repositioning of the mattress and support deck as the child grows such that the support deck is lowered as the infant grows into a toddler. Some of the infant cribs, in addition to the mattress height adjustment, also convert to a youth bed so that the furniture can be used for a longer period of time. Other versions of the new crib designs have fold-down sides which are horizontally hinged, above a fixed lower section of the sidewall, along the top of the entire lower section of the sidewall from corner post to corner post with locking latches positioned at each post. This provides for slightly better access to the bed surface and the infant or toddler, but still constitutes a pinching hazard at the hinge point as the sidewall is folded back and locked into its vertical position.
It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide for greater ease of access to the infant bed surface and to the infant by creating either a partial or an entire sidewall opening along one side of the crib without the possibility of a pinching hazard. It is also an object of the present invention to provide only as much access to the infant bed surface as is required, so that only a part of the sidewall may be opened at any given time.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide individual locking elements to permit each section of the sidewall to be opened or to remain in its locked and closed position. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a hinging system between each of the operable door sets and the infant crib that is pinch-proof so that this type of hazard is eliminated entirely. It is yet another object to provide latching mechanisms that are operable only from the exterior of the crib and that reset automatically when released.
It is also another object of the present invention to provide temporary door retention mechanisms to retain one or more of the doors in the open position so that the door does not move and impede access to the crib. In addition, it is another object of the present invention to provide door stops so the operable doors cannot be pushed into the crib and over the bed surface preventing any possible injury to an infant occupant.
Other objects will appear hereinafter.